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Our turbines issue needs tackling

Putting his cards firmly on the table, Eddie Martin has shown strongest possible opposition to more windfarms in Cumbria.

And the county council leader will not be swayed by offers of financial sweeteners either.

Accepting cash for yet more turbines, being bought by promises of future income for the local economy, would be “like prostituting your soul for 30 pieces of silver.”

And he adds: “You can’t buy me off for 30 pieces of silver.”

He’s not alone in believing the output of turbines is too low to justify them. He’s certainly not the only one deeply unhappy about government endorsement of large energy companies being allowed to ride roughshod over local people. And he is joined by many in the view that Cumbria’s heritage of unspoiled natural beauty is already badly scarred by eyesore constructions.

He is demanding action to hasten nuclear power generation at Sellafield – not in five or eight or 10 years time but now – and in doing so cuts through much of the flim-flam which has veiled clear vision of the county’s future for too long.

While delays on difficult decisions about the big picture of Cumbria’s important and sizeable contribution to future energy needs are allowed to continue, an even bigger picture forms unhindered.

More than a fair share of sacrifice has been made here already. But windfarms wait for no man. They march on and proliferate alarmingly, with or without consent.